Novak Djokovic left a ball girl horrified at Wimbledon
Novak Djokovic pranked a Wimbledon ball girl by feigning injury during his match with Stefanos Tsitsipas on Centre Court.
The Serbian tennis legend had just won the second set to establish a 2-0 lead on Wednesday night when he asked the young girl for some help with cutting the taping on his shoulder.
Djokovic handed his unlikely helper a pair of scissors to trim the tape. And, as she began snipping, the 24-time Grand Slam winner pretended he had been nicked by the scissors.
The youngster had a face of horror as the seven-time Wimbledon champion winced. But he quickly burst into laughter as the girl put her hand on her chest.
Watching on the BBC’s coverage, presenter Clare Balding said: “He’s going to get help from one of the ball girls.
“Oh that’s funny. He’s joking. He’s joking. Oh you’re so funny! Poor girl, she was absolutely terrified there.
“Needle work is complete, Tsitsipas has gone off court for a bathroom break and Djokovic will be hoping very much he can wrap this up in double quick time.”
Djokovic offered an apology for the prank during his post-match on-court interview, saying: “Stefanos went to change so I had some spare time. I’m sorry if I scared her.”
He stormed to a dominant 6-3 first-set victory under the Centre Court roof against a tricky opponent who has tumbled from No.3 to No.87 in the world rankings. He broke serve to lead 3-1 before recovering from 0-40 down to clinch the set in just 26 minutes.
The second set proved no more challenging for the seven-time Wimbledon champion and he had established a two-set lead within 63 minutes. He maintained that momentum in the third set to cruise to a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory.
Djokovic will meet No.25 seed Arthur Rinderknech in the third round on Friday.
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